David Morris PhD

CEO, Australia China Business Council (Tas) 🤝 Founder, 1EarthVillage 🌏 Diplomat✌️Visiting professor & author ✍️ Adviser to governments, businesses & UN 🇺🇳

[Hugh Riminton @hughriminton]

In Pauline Hanson’s first go-around, four former prime ministers signed this warning.

[1EarthVillage @1EarthVillage]

That’s a wrap.

For the past five weeks, 42° South: Shanghai Contemporary Art Observations has opened a window.

Thanks to all who helped make this all that it was 🙏

[Prof Kathy Eagar AM @keagar.bsky.social @k_eagar]

Australians voting with their feet. Our future is not as a junior sidekick to America. Our future is in SE Asia and Pacific. Australians understand this even if most of our politicians don’t seem to

[David Morris PhD @dm_1Earth]

Join Australia China Business Council Tasmania next Thursday 23 July for fresh insights on entrepreneurship & innovation. Free registration here: https://t.co/7H7Dvt4HdO

[David Morris PhD @dm_1Earth]

Vale. Sam Neill.

An exceptional and beloved character who left a warm and deep impression on all who had the good fortune to know him.

[Anthony Albanese @AlboMP]

Today, Australia and Papua New Guinea began a new chapter, becoming allies under the Pukpuk Treaty.

Built on respect and our shared history, this Treaty reflects our commitment to the security of our region.

Our two countries will keep walking together, side by side. 🇦🇺🇵🇬

[1EarthVillage @1EarthVillage]

Luo Wei’s Larvae series of work, currently on exhibition in Hobart, focuses on the builders who move quietly and tirelessly through the city, using artistic language to reflect on the individual & the times. For more background, check out https://t.co/e4gPkHzdz6

@TheHenryJones

[David Morris PhD @dm_1Earth]

Reflecting on my own China story & why I ultimately wrote a book about managing risk. We're living through a period of profound uncertainty. Understanding, navigating risk to find opportunities has never been more important.
https://t.co/dLDbDaOseP

[David Morris PhD @dm_1Earth]

Join Tas @AusChinaBC Winter Warmer Drinks amongst contemporary Chinese art. Network in style, mingle with members & special guests, warmed with a dram of Tassie whisky from @HellyersD
Fri 17 July 5 to 7pm Henry Jones Art Hotel Hobart
Register here:
https://t.co/5UMCLqODhk

[Senator Penny Wong @SenatorWong]

Australia and Fiji are Vuvale - family - and now we are allies.

Today, Prime Minister Albanese and Prime Minister Rabuka signed two major upgrades to our relationship - the Vuvale Union and the Ocean of Peace Alliance.

It is an honour to be here in Suva on this historic day.

[Mark Kenny @markgkenny.bsky.social @markgkenny]

Brilliant.

[David Morris PhD @dm_1Earth]

To-die-for seafood, wine & even local baijiu, to welcome buyers’ mission from China. Building relationships for Tassie producers with our biggest export market. Amongst contemporary Chinese art. Excellence all around. Strategic. Forward-looking. This is Team Tasmania.
#Tasmanian

[David Morris PhD @dm_1Earth]

Neil the Seal for President of the Tasmanian Republic.

His platform is refreshingly simple, with no spin, no grandstanding:

1. Protect the environment
2. Peace, humans
3. OK, visit if you wish (but keep a respectful distance)
4. Don’t bust a gut
5. No drama

#NeiltheSeal

[David Morris PhD @dm_1Earth]

Neil the Seal #Tasmania

[David Morris PhD @dm_1Earth]

Australia had 1 million Chinese visitors in 2025, contributing $10 b expenditure. That’s 1/4 of all short-term visitor spending. A new @AusChinaBC report finds that, on return home, Chinese visitors’ purchases of Australian goods and services rise 88%. https://t.co/UYL86y2ZyR

[Kirsti Miller @KirstiMiller30]

The Most Powerful Moment in Australia’s Parliament — 1996

A Liberal MP stood up and dismantled Pauline Hanson’s claims — with facts, data, and courage.

On 12 September 1996, Liberal MP Peter Nugent (Aston) rose in the House of Representatives and directly rebutted Pauline Hanson’s maiden speech delivered two days earlier. Nearly 30 years later, his words still hit hard.

🔥 1. ARE INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS REALLY “NOT THE MOST DISADVANTAGED”?

Hanson said she was “tired of the assumption” that Indigenous people were the most disadvantaged. Nugent replied: It’s not an assumption — it’s fact.

• Life expectancy: Indigenous boys lived 18 years less; girls 15 years less.

• Health: Up to 50% of children in some Indigenous primary schools had chronic ear infections.

• Housing: Nugent visited NT communities where 38 people lived in a single 3‑bedroom house with one toilet and one shower.

• Unemployment: National rate was 8%; Indigenous communities often sat at 80%.

• Youth detention: In WA, Indigenous teens (15–19) were 50 times more likely to be detained.

He stressed this wasn’t about race — it was the result of deep socioeconomic deprivation.

🔥 2. ARE INDIGENOUS PROGRAMS “REVERSE DISCRIMINATION”?

Nugent said Australia had already tried “treating everyone the same” for 200 years — and it failed every time.

Special measures exist because disadvantage is real, just like support for people with disabilities or mental illness. It’s not racial favouritism — it’s practical reality.

🔥 3. WILL NATIVE TITLE MAKE NON‑INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS “LOSE THEIR HOMES”?

Hanson: “Where do we go?” Nugent: Nowhere. This is nonsense.

• Your home is unaffected

• Native Title applies only to unallocated Crown land

• Claimants must prove continuous connection for 200 years

• At that time, not a single Indigenous person had gained land from Native Title

• Only lawyers had benefited so far

He called Hanson’s claim “the lowest form of scaremongering.”

🔥 4. “WE SHOULDN’T PAY FOR WHAT HAPPENED 200 YEARS AGO.”

Nugent: Assistance programs address today’s problems, not colonial reparations.

🔥 5. IS THE RECONCILIATION COUNCIL A “GRAVY TRAIN”?

Hanson accused members of clinging to allowances. Nugent — who served on the council for five years — clarified:

• Government‑paid staff (including him) did not receive meeting fees

• Many members refused or donated their allowances

• The council met four times a year plus weekend events

• He said giving up weekends for reconciliation was absolutely worth it

🔥 6. “ASIAN IMMIGRANTS DON’T INTEGRATE AND FORM ENCLAVES.”

Hanson warned Australia was being “swamped by Asians.” Nugent: Completely false. Show evidence.

• Asian Australians in his electorate were widely dispersed and well integrated

• He cited Chinese‑Australian doctors, engineers, scientists, business leaders, athletes

• Religious freedom is a democratic foundation — keeping one’s faith isn’t “failing to integrate”

• In recent years, most top academic scholarship winners in his electorate were Asian Australian students

He said this was the clearest proof of contribution and integration.

🔥 7. IS FOREIGN AID A WASTE?

Hanson said $1.5 billion in aid was lost to corruption. Nugent replied:

• It was only 0.2% of GDP

• He had just visited slums in India and Pakistan

• “If a country like Australia cannot spare this small amount to help, we should pack up and go home.”

He described a children’s aid program in Pakistan — directly supervised by Australians — that ensured every dollar reached the kids. Budget cuts were ending it, and he called that one of his greatest regrets.

[David Morris PhD @dm_1Earth]

Great art challenges, provokes, inspires.

It forces us to confront contradictions, empathise, explore.

Open your window

Find new bearings at 42° Sth.

7 extraordinary contemporary artists from Shanghai.

11 June — 19 July
@TheHenryJones
Hobart

#DarkMofo #ContemporaryArt

[David Morris PhD @dm_1Earth]

Courageous and correct. The Pacific Way

[Pacific Islands Forum @ForumSEC]

At a time of rising global tensions, Pacific Islands Forum Leaders stand in solidarity.

Grounded in the Blue Pacific’s Ocean of Peace Declaration, Forum Leaders have issued an Appeal for Global Peace, calling for dialogue, restraint and renewed commitment to international cooperation.

Read the Statement from Forum Leaders: https://t.co/DXwLeMIr5O

#iumitugeda #OneBluePacific

[David Morris PhD @dm_1Earth]

Who would be anywhere else in winter #darkmofo #hobart #tasmania

[David Morris PhD @dm_1Earth]

Never argue with Gareth

[Antony (Tony) Walker @tonywalker1]

Debate country needs to have. Bit late in the piece after billions have been squandered, and country's sovereignty imperilled. Aukus is among Australia’s worst foreign policy decisions and requires ‘heroic’ optimism, Gareth Evans says @GuardianAus https://t.co/21mUgf929a